The October Guild meeting was held at my place in Monroe. After a tour we discussed Open Creamery Day, our letter to the governor, and a possible Peter Dixon workshop on Italian Cheese Styles we’re working on arranging for this fall, or next Spring if necessary. I showed off the two Tommes I made for our Holiday Tomme celebration, visually explaining why it’s preferable to brine the Tomme when it comes out of the mold, instead of dry salting.
Holiday Tomme is Coming Up
***MAKE DATE: On or Around Labor Day Weekend***
Last year’s Holiday Tomme event was so successful, this year we’re asking all the Guild members to make a Tomme based on the SAME RECIPE, and then to bring them to the Maine Cheese Guild Christmas party (December 13th at Hahn’s End) to sample them, and the best of them made by licensed cheese makers will be auctioned off as a fundraiser for the Guild.
The differences will be found in the milks (we had cows, goats, sheep, and mixed milks last year), in the hand of the cheesemaker (cutting, stirring, and draining the curd), and in the aging environments (last year many cheeses were aged in large sealable plastic tubs).
The make date is coming up: Labor Day Weekend. On or around the weekend of September 4th, make a 4 lb. (give or take) Tomme using the recipe below using whatever milk you have available. Age them as you would normally age a cheese like this (or discover the joy of aging cheeses by experimenting with this cheese. On December 13th bring them to Phippsburg to sample, and then sell.
All cheese makers should use Peter Dixon’s “Tomme Style Cheese” recipe that is posted on-line here:
Meeting: Olde Oak Farm
We had a very pleasant meeting with Scott, Arline, and everyone at Olde Oak Farm in Maxfield, north of Orono. Most interesting was a tour of Scott’s mobile cheese plant — a 12′ x 32′ structure complete with instant hot water, refrigeration, a twelve cheese press, and room for a walk-in cooler — which he moved from his previous location in Orono to this site. As he explained: “We were making cheese within fifteen minutes of the cheese plant being set down on the site.” Not only is the plant mobile, but almost everything in it is mobile, set on wheels. He has made every effort to reduce the lugging and lifting chores of the cheesemaker.
